It's GOLD!!!

Jerry, Danny and the girls saddled up and rode out of Brighton on Friday afternoon, headed for Grand Rapids and the State Basketball Tourney. The Pink Panthers will be wearing their new uniforms...will they be a lucky charm? Friday activities include a team dinner and opening ceremonies followed by a wild dance. Perpetual SO dance favourites include YMCA. Who let the dogs out? and the new fav Gangnam Style! Danny and Coach Jerry both danced with athletes from all over the state.
Bright and early on Saturday morning the Panthers took to the court at Rockford High School. The Panthers had a tough first game. Their shots were not falling but they did not give up. They fought for every rebound and when the buzzer sounded the Panthers had won the game! With the victory came a final game with only a an hour to rest. This definitely worked in Charlotte's favour. She was warmed up and psyched up, and with her first shot she showed what she was capable of. She got the ball on a pass, turned and set up, and Coach Jerry turned to Coach Bill and said "this is going in" and sure enough, she popped, and SWISH! in it went. And with that the Panthers were on the prowl. All the gals played well, Charlotte ended up as top scorer and Molly was number two! Coach Dad was very proud! And the Pink Panthers win the state championship Gold Medal! Yay! Jerry devotes a lot of time and heart to his team, and I am happy that his great coaching and calm way of teaching and motivating his players paid off! And we must credit the uniforms too! Check them out....

opening ceremonies

bringing in the torch!

Jody starts off the dancing!

Charlotte!

Derek, and Charlotte in the back left, in her new outfit

Chaperon Danny ends the evening with a good book

Pink Panthers!!

Charlotte warms up

Molly takes a shot while the coaches look on and plot strategy

Molly exhibits some serious pressure defense!

Charlotte on the breakaway

yeah, GO!!!

On the medal stand, Gold around their necks!

teammates Molly and Danielle

post game celebration at a sports bar--U of M on the screen!
Wouldn't Grandpa have loved this set up?!

Charlotte had a blast!

Scouting--I am a Big Fan!

Troop 350  Brighton   MI
Since Danny joined scouts in September he has gone on hikes,camp outs, rock climbing expeditions,even scuba diving! And you know Danny, this is his idea of a great time! The troop meets every Monday at the scout building to work on merit badges, listen to speakers, play games and plan trips like a stint at the food bank or helping out a a cub scout ceremony.  Danny has been working hard and achieved his first Boy Scout rank, Tenderfoot, at the meeting last week. It will be officially acknowledged at the next Court of Honor. On Friday Danny headed south with 8 scouts for a weekend campout in the frigid temps. No matter to them though, they even tent camped on Satruday night! They took  a couple of long hikes, one on a trail that led to a waterfall.  I know that Dad is smiling down at Danny as he starts his scouting journey, and I think he plans to go all the way to Eagle, just like Dad did!

Danny and Gavin, his fellow tuba playing scout mate!

Danny assisitng at the flag ceremony

presenting the colours

Jack is Danny's patrol leader and senior scout

reciting the scout pledge. Sout master Mike Wisbiski on the right

Danny gets his first two merit badges

Shopping for Charity!

Cassie helps me get ready for our company!

Setting out the snack bowls! (kidding-we washed them first!)

Laurel, Maggie and Molly

The Sensy room, boy did it smell good in there :)

Molly and Cassie are happy with the great success of our Shopping for Special Olympics night!

that is my kind of shopping! On Wednesday 3/13 I hosted three consultants and about 30 women joining together to raise funds for Special Olympics. Maggie, who represents Sensy, set up in the library. Her brother Danny is an athlete with our program! Laurel, our long time chaperones and assistant coach, is a ThirtyOne gal,  who set up her beautiful products in the piano room. Her Mom Michelle coaches the girls in track ,snowshoe and soccer, and her brother Scott is an athlete. And on into the kitchen where we find Lynn Cluskey, our long time Pampered Chef consultant displaying her wares and cooking away. Lynn made a tasty dip and stovetop pizza, and I prepared a tropical fruit trifle, mocha brownie bites, meatballs,drinks,etc. The house smelled delicious and was filled with the sounds of laughter and friendship. The energy was so high! I had a spectacular time hosting this event, and got so carried away with my raffle I ended up giving away all the soda bread I had baked at the moment (5 loaves!)! Speaking of carried away, I have NO idea what I even bought, but I know I spent a lot! All for a good cause though.

Danny's Basketball Season

Danny had a fabulous experience participating in the Naz BBall league this year. For those of you who are not familiar with this league, it is run by the Church of the Nazarene in Brighton for grades 1-8. The teams practice once a week and play games once a week against other Naz teams and teams from the Community Bible Church. One unique feature in this league is the halftime chat. After grabbing water and catching their breath, the players and coaches gather at center court for a short bible study. There is a character trait that is focused on and verses discussed relating to that. The boys are asked questions and able to chime in with thoughts. The games also begin and end with a prayer. Danny's team was coached by Dean Bush, a phys.ed teacher in Brighton. Charlotte actually had him for adaptive PE in middle school and he remembered her. She was thrilled! He has a gift for teaching the boys skills and coaching with no drama, just quiet confidence. Danny got better with every game and gained new ball skills. He learned to hustle and create his own opportunities to score. Best of all, he had fun! He looked forward to each practice and game. The season finished up last Monday night with a tough loss, by one basket, to one of the top teams. Danny did score! It is so nice to have a sports league that isn't focused on making the big travel team but rather on the joy of sport!

formal shot of number 44

bringing in the ball

taking a shot

hustle back!

staying on his man

gathering at halftime

on offense

blowing by his guard!

he never stopped running

season over

Happy Birthday Molly! 3/5/91

Next in line in the birthday parade my now 22 year old daughter Molly. Wow! We hung her signs, and I baked banana bread for breakfast. We put a candle in it and sang to her at 7:15am!  Molly got a Just Baked cupcake and a beautiful card signed by all the gals that work with her at Head start. It was so touching, and it made me so happy. Thinking about Molly having this wonderful work experience and being surrounded by people that enjoy and respect her is so heartwarming to me. Cassie and I brought a cake out to Molly's classroom on Wednesday to celebrate her special day with her friends, and she was thrilled. She went to a couple of basketball games,did some running,and finally ended her birthday "period" with Jerry surprising her with his ticket to the U of M game on 3/10. She went with Stan and though her team lost, it was senior night and she was so happy to see the seniors get their special awards. Molly, you light up my life and through these 22 years, my first girl, you have brought me joy and challenged me to be a better Mom and person. Thank you for being you and Happy Birthday!!

our family tradition for years: Jer creates four birthday signs and hangs them around the house. They are always so creative-here is my favourite of this years signs for Molly!

Is this the perfect shirt for Mol? Cassie gave it to her(I helped her pick it out!)

Story time fun at the Brighton District Library

True Confession time--Cassie and I are story time junkies!
We went on Friday 3/1 and again on Monday,Tuesday and today... Fridays we have a program called All Join In, my former Mother Goose Cafe time slot, which has a half an hour story time and then toy time. Cassie really enjoys interacting with the other kids in this setting. Our Monday class is called Baby Boogie and the teacher is Miss Sherry. All the same kids from our last session are back again, including Cassie favourites, twin boys Kellan and Liam. Miss Sherry has a kitty puppet which greets all the kids and later says Goodbye to them. Cassie always hugs and kisses kitty, some of the other tots are afraid, but not our Cass! The music is the same each week so she knows what is coming and loves to dance and sing. At the end of each song she claps and yells out "AAAAAAA!"  And Tuesdays is the crown jewel of story time..
Miss Roseanne's Read to the Beat. Cassie stands outside the door, staring at it, and then she hears to music start, she starts to tap her feet, and when Miss Roseanne opens that door she bolts in and then stops right in the middle of the floor, and starts dancing! She loves every story and song and dances with abandon, greets the other kids, smiles and cheers. At home we listen to lots of kids tunes and play loads of games and finger plays, but the time at the library is really special to both of us! And as a story leader myself, getting to experience it from the patron side is fun and educational.

Cassie and her pal in the Story Room!

She's Back!

SNOW DAY!!

Cassie's first snowman?!

A boy and his dog!

taking a little walk

"no photos, please!"

Yay! Nothing/No one helps me avoid housework better than Cassandra. Shawne and I drove down to pick her up on Tuesday 2/26. We took the opportunity to stop in at Ollies in Taylor-have you been there? Susan and I discovered the place in Pennsylvania, it is a big lot style junk shoppe full of things like rugs,food,books,toys and camo! I spent way too much and Shawne spent way too little and we had fun. Grabbed the baby at 11 and were home by 12 noon. Snow is predicted for Wednesday so now I don't have to worry about driving in any mess. Cassie was super happy to get here, she was only gone for 6 days, so there was no readjustment period, she just slid right back in to the family. It is so much fun to have her and watch her grow. And we had a snow day on Wednesday! It was a great day with play time, cocoa drinking and snowman building on the agenda.